Stockholm Syndrome
by musegasm
Summary: “A psychological state in which a hostage develops feelings of loyalty, friendship, or even love towards the hostagetaker, regardless of the risk andor danger the hostage is placed in.” [Mello and Matsuda.] ...Rated M for future chapters.
1. suspicion

** Stockholm Syndrome:**

"A psychological state in which a hostage develops feelings of loyalty, friendship, or even love towards the hostage-taker, regardless of the risk and/or danger the hostage is placed in."

In this case, it may turn out two-sided. You'll have to keep reading.

Mello x Matsuda –all characters belong to the creator of Death Note. I'm just borrowing them for a bit of fun. Hope you enjoy, and let me know your opinions. The story takes place in the series before Mikami Teru, before the Chief is shot, before L (now Raito-kun) and his team even knows where Mello and his gang may be hiding out. They've narrowed it down to a few buildings, but are not positive yet.

On with the game.

—

"Matsuda-san, what are you doing?"

Raito-kun was doing the usual paperwork and document-hunting, finishing off his coffee, when he happened to look up and see Matsuda standing there. Matsuda smiled a little.

"Aha... just wondering what I could be doing. How can I be helpful Raito-san?"

Raito pondered over the question for a moment. But not for too long, of course.

"You can get me another cup of coffee."

Matsuda's shoulders slumped at the familiar monkey-boy task he was given. He shook his head a bit and threw on another smile, taking Raito-san's mug and heading to the coffee machine. Down the hall and to the left, he passed Aizawa-san who was on his way back to his desk with a sandwich, and set the mug on the table next to the coffee machine. Matsuda absent-mindedly began pouring the coffee, his eyes out of focus, thinking to himself. _ Nobody takes me seriously. Even after the Yotsuba thing... I was the one who confirmed Kira! I risked my life, and what happens within two weeks? Back to running errands. Perfunctory tasks._ Matsuda sighed.

...And caught himself right before the coffee came too close to spilling over the side of the mug. Oh, how he had done that many times before. Attention Deficit Disorder was not the best thing to have at any job, let alone one involving very hot liquids... Matsuda replaced the coffee pot and slowly walked back to the main office, being careful not to spill. He silently vowed never to spill anything ever again, in fact. He decided to do his absolute best at his job, even if it wasn't a very important one.

Upon his return to the main office, he found the rest of the team gathered around Raito-san's computer screen. Of course, there was no room for him to peer through, because it was an important matter. Nonetheless he set down Raito's mug by his desk and stood on his tip-toes to try and see what was happening... and got a wonderful view of a whole two square inches of the screen.

"What are you looking at?" Matsuda asked. Mogi-san turned and smiled at him.

"We've narrowed Mello's possible hideout down to only four buildings now," Mogi replied, pleased because he had of course been able to help achieve this result. "We set up camera surveillance tomorrow."

"Oh, that's good," Matsuda smiled. The rest of the team were in high spirits and began heading back to their own desks to continue the research. Matsuda remembered trying to do all the research he could, oh yes, and one of the buildings that he had been working on investigating was indeed one of the final four, but it had shown up in Aizawa's work as well. So he got credit. Matsuda got coffee duty.

Slumping back into his own chair, Matsuda-san started staring blindly at more papers and screens. Maybe if he could just prove to them that his building was the right one, they would see he was being helpful. In fact, he was sure of it. He had a good feeling about that building's odds of being their target.

Although he then remembered the Yotsuba incident again. Everyone had to come to his rescue because he had been careless, but he thought he handled it well and certainly he learned from the experience. But he would never want that to happen again. Even if it did help everyone in the long run.

Matsuda's mind was full of 'what-if'.

He was sure that he knew where Mello was. Not with facts, but intuition. A feeling.

Was that enough to go on?

Matsuda stood up. "I'm going to go get lunch." People nodded and waved him off, and he grabbed his coat on the way out.

—

His car wouldn't start.

Matsuda put his head on the steering wheel, still sitting in the parking garage. _ How could I have forgotten to get gas. That was stupid._ He opened the car door again, yanked out his keys, threw his coat over his shoulder, and walked outside to hail a cab.

Within ten minutes, he was at his destination... or, rather, three blocks from it. Matsuda wasn't naive enough to be dropped off right in front of the building.

The cab drove off. Taking a deep breath, Matsuda started walking.

—

Chapter Two will introduce Mello. And many interesting things will happen from now on.

Heh. It will be a good read, I promise.

And yes, believe it or not, I am a boy writing a yaoi fanfiction. Gasp.


	2. sneak

Ooh, two reviews already, how exciting. I didn't think anyone would have found it interesting yet. But hey, I'm not complaining. It's going to get oh-so-interesting soon though. I'm writing it on paper first, I'm going on fourteen pages now... What's that I hear? Squealy fangirls in the future? Oh yes, yes indeed.

Maybe even squealy fanboys too, I'm not one to judge, haha.

...I will shut up now.

—

The building was very old. It was caving in at some parts, even. The stones had patches of unidentifiable growths here and there. It was scheduled to be demolished next month, and nobody ever went there.

Making it a perfect hiding place for Mello and the mafia members he had joined forces with.

On the inside, it was not much better... but they made due with what they had. Old furniture, which included second- or third-hand tables and chairs, and even a massive, loathsome couch that was zebra-striped and had definitely been thrown out previously with good reason. On said couch sat a few men, one of which looked to be around his late late teens or early twenties. He wore a black vest, shiny black leather pants, black leather gloves, and had shoulder-length blonde hair. Mello also wore a silver cross both around his neck and around his wrist... he was not necessarily a religious man, he just liked the aesthetic value of such a shape. He also liked chocolate.

Mello was watching the monitors. There were quite a few of them, stacked at the front of this room, and on one in particular there was movement. He focused his attention on this one. Leaning forward towards the screen, he saw the fuzzy silhouette of a man strolling outside... which was odd, seeing as the building wasn't quite on the side of the street, it was further back in an alley that nobody ever really ventures down. The figure stopped. Mello's eyes narrowed, wondering who it may be. Hoping that the person would just continue on his way.

But he didn't. The stranger began looking around, snooping... investigating? This was not good. Not at all. Mello motioned to a man nearby, a dark-skinned man with yellow dreadlocks.

"Take care of this guy."

—

Matsuda turned the corner and began down the alley. _It's dark back here... _he thought. The faint smell of garbage emanated from the bins lining the alley, which brought up a random sentence to his mind... _America smells bad._

He almost passed the building, but stopped just in time. _This is it,_ he thought to himself, suddenly feeling very anxious. He saw windows on the side of the building a few feet away, and looked around for cameras. Finding none (for he hadn't thought to look very far up) he walked slowly to the window, trying not to make a sound. He loosened his tie and took a deep breath, ready to take a small peek... when someone much bigger than himself grabbed him and put a cloth over his mouth and nose with one swift motion. Matsuda panicked, of course, and let out his air... only to breathe back in again through what he realized was a rag soaked in chloroform. He held his breath, hoping he hadn't taken in too much, but his head was already feeling rather funny...

Remembering the distress button on his belt, Matsuda reached for it. This being multi-tasking for him, he forgot to hold his breath. His arms felt like ramen noodles and he couldn't quite control them enough to reach his belt, becoming progressively more disoriented... and in seconds everything went black.

—

The man with dreadlocks entered the main room again, with Matsuda carelessly swung over his shoulder. Mello cracked a smile at the sight.

"He looks familiar. Check his coat pockets," he said, waving the hand that wasn't occupied with a chocolate bar. The man obeyed, pulling out a watch, a wallet, and a police badge. The last item was what caught the onlookers' attention. Mello jumped up off the cough and grabbed the badge, and unfolded the casing to look at the ID card. "Toss me his wallet."

The wallet also contained an ID card. A driver's license... and the name on it was different. "I'm guessing that the name on his work ID is an alias," Mello said. "This guy's name is Touta Matsuda." He paused for a few seconds, making connections in his mind. "He works for L."

The room was completely silent.

"...What do we do with him now?"

Mello grinned. "Keep him for questioning." This was actually amazing luck. He could ask for all sorts of information. Who was L. What had the Japanese task force found out about Kira and the notebooks. Where was headquarters. Of course, Mello knew that the man would not talk right away and spill all the secrets. But that was okay.

He would talk eventually.

—

Uhuhu. Don't worry, Matsuda will be conscious in the next chapter, and he will meet the infamous Mello. And it will be interesting. Hm, I use that word a lot...


End file.
